Create an Arts-Rich Learning Environment

During National Arts In Education Week, we have been discussing ways in which one can promote arts education, the benefits to arts education, and also how to make sure students are getting a chance to be hands-on with their skill development in the arts. Today, we have decided to share with you some tips on how you can create an arts-rich learning environment in your very own school.

Students Participating in the Dance to Learn Program, Photo by: Becca Barniskis

What School Leaders Can Do To Increase Arts Education is a great booklet made by the Arts Education Partnership that shows how school leaders can increase arts education in their schools. This is particularly important in our current environment of shrinking school budgets, which unfortunately can result in cuts to the school's arts department.

From this booklet, we are focusing on its section, "Create an Arts-Rich Learning Environment." Here's 5 easy steps that you and your school can do to provide an arts integrated education for your students.

1. Bring the arts into daily classroom instruction.

"As Stephen Noonan, Principal of the High School of Arts, Imagination and Inquiry in New York City puts it, 'We don’t limit student experiences with art to one class or one unit; rather
we find authentic ways to integrate the arts across the curriculum.' But in an already jam-packed day, some teachers might resist integrating arts learning experiences if doing so seems like an 'add-on.' Peg Winkelman, a teacher educator at California State University, East Bay, suggests principals 'eliminate the idea that it is difficult [to integrate the arts.] It may be
there are one or two teachers who already use the arts as part of their instructional practices.' Use their expertise to spark interest among other educators."

2. Provide arts-based professional development.

"Key to effective, high quality professional development is that it should be intensive,
on-going, and aligned with state and district curriculum requirements. At some schools, the arts teachers serve as the school 'lead' in providing or coordinating professional development for classroom teachers. At others, professional development support comes from outside the school, either from the school district or an arts or cultural organization. At Carnation Elementary School, Principal Doug Poage used a combination of both: 'We were able to get a teacher professional development grant from the state for two years. Now, 80% of teachers are trained in using the arts. We created our replica program so that now we train our teachers using our own staff. We also use an artist in our own community, which helps the local community as well as our school.'"

3. Support a school-wide arts learning community.

"Professional development alone doesn’t provide sufficient support for creating a school-wide
arts learning community that engages the entire staff—classroom teachers, specialist teachers, administrators, and school leaders. School principals can help build staff capacity by reinforcing the commitment to the arts through a school-wide arts theme, the sharing of arts-related books and articles and incorporating the topic into staff meetings."

4. Incorporate the arts into staffing and hiring decisions.

"Develop job descriptions for new hires that let candidates know arts coursework or experience using the arts in teaching is an expectation. Then, follow it up by asking arts-related questions in job interviews with prospective teachers. School principals also can reinforce the emphasis on using the arts in teaching by making it a part of classroom observations, teacher discussions and the evaluation process."

5. Involve the local arts community.

"Reaching beyond the school walls to arts and cultural organizations can produce many lasting benefits. Teaching artists—professional artists from cultural institutions or from the community—can play a key role in providing workshops, consultations, teaching demonstrations, assessment techniques and assistance in the development of curricular materials. Forming partnerships with the local arts community can help infuse the school with rich, comprehensive programs—not simply add-on experiences that can come and go with the availability of resources."


This article taken from What School Leaders Can Do To Increase Arts Education, Washington, D.C., May 2011.

To read the entire booklet, click here. You can also visit the AEP website at http://www.aep-arts.org/ for references and additional resources.

We want to hear from you!
How will you create an arts-rich learning environment in your school?